


The Family You Choose

by jpeg_123



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety, Eating Disorders, Established Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Family Fluff, M/M, Married Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, OC makes all the characters break their diet, Post-Canon, Yuri Plisetsky's Nickname Is Yurio, Yuri is good with kids, Yurio is still angsty 4 years later, Yuuri spelt Yuri, reference to parent death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28276560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jpeg_123/pseuds/jpeg_123
Summary: When Yuri lived in Detriot, he bonded with a family of figure skaters. When the parents die in a plane crash after the Grand Prix Final, it is up to Victor and Yuri to take care of the children left behind.~I'll add more tags as they become relevant. Also Teen for Yurio's mouth.Also, I read somewhere that Yuri! on Ice takes place in a world where homophobia is not a thing so I am running with that idea. Where Yuri and Victor can be happily gay in either Russia or Japan with adopted kids and no repercussions. IMO that is how it should be anyway but I digress.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Otabek Altin & Yuri Plisetsky, Phichit Chulanont & Katsuki Yuuri
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	1. Hurts Like Hell

**Author's Note:**

> The chapter title is named after the song "Hurts like Hell" by Fleurie

It's Yuri’s second GPF banquet since becoming Yuri Katsuki-Nikiforov. It’s his first with Victor only as his coach and the fourth banquet since the beautifully amazing Victor Nikiforov showed up at his family’s hot springs and announced that he was going to be Yuri’s coach. They have grown so much together and Yuri knows that there is no one else that he would want to be his partner on or off the ice.

  
Victor is off smoothing out sponsorship deals while Yuri talks with Phichit and Leo de la Iglesia. Both had also made it to the final Grand Prix competition and came out with personal bests.

  
“Yuri! When are you and Victor going to adopt your figure skating protégés’? Uncle Phichit is dying to spoil them!” Yuri only laughs at Phichit’s complaints.

  
“We haven’t really talked much about it since before we got married. We're just focusing on skating right now.” Yuri reflects with a shrug.

  
“But Yuuuuuri! Victor retired last year! He’d be an amazing stay at home dad!” Leo just laughs at Phichit who is now shaking Yuri in an attempt to further get his point across.

  
“EW! Gross! Pork Cutlet Bowl and the asshole do not need anything else to make them more annoying!” Ah, there’s Yurio, Yuri was starting to wonder where the Russian punk had wandered off to. Yurio having turned 18 this year is starting to adapt to the changes his body has been making the past few years and has made a strong comeback this season, almost pushing Yuri out of God, but settled for silver. At this point, Yuri has a couple of centimeters on Yurio but is still shorter than Victor.

  
“Don’t worry Yuri, Sarah and Noah Miller would have to die first for Katsuki to have kids,” Leo pipes up between laughs.

  
Yuri covers his face with his hands at the blush rushes all the way up to his hairline, “Oh my God! I completely forgot about that!”

  
“What?” Yurio is looking between them all like they have all suddenly grown extra heads. “Who is Sarah and Noah?”

  
Leo gestures towards the American coaches and previous top pair skaters. “They used to be good pair skaters but stopped skating once they had kids, Emily and Josh, they took up coaching because they would be less likely to get hurt. They would bring their kids to the rink in Detroit-“

  
“And they absolutely LOVED Yuri! We would all joke that if anything ever happened to Sarah and Noah that Yuri should be the one to take care of them. No one knows about their extended family, but it is assumed that they are not in the picture.” Phichit finishes for Leo.

  
“Yeaaaa, but that was only ever a joke! No one would actually leave the care of their children to me!” Yuri takes his hands away from his face long enough to glare at Phichit and Leo, who just laugh at him.

  
“You guys are weird” Yurio announces before sulking off to go find Otabek.

  
***

  
Immediately after they land back in St. Petersburg, Yuri decides that he wants to go to the rink and skate, despite his coach saying that he should take a rest day. It seems that they were not the only ones with that idea as they see Mila and Yurio already lacing up their skates and arguing about something.

  
“I don’t see why you don’t just ask him out!” Mila is laughing more than anything, however, Yurio’s blush has spread to his ears by this point showing that he is more embarrassed than he is mad.

  
“I don’t see how it's your fucking problem! Why don’t you just go sleep with another hockey jock already?” Yurio storms off to the ice to begin his warm-up.

  
“What was that all about?” Victor asks hand in hand with Yuri as they approach Mila.

  
“I was just giving him a hard time about Otabek, you know the usual.”

  
Victor watches as Yuri begins practice with some lazy figure eights before picking up his speed. His step sequences have always been his specialty and despite constantly ending up on the podium at competitions his jumps still stand for improvement. As if to prove that idea, he immediately stumbles out of the quad flip he had attempted. At least he didn’t fall flat on his butt like he used to. Yurio is refining the step sequence from his free program. His stamina was causing him trouble during the Grand Prix and he messed up on this part costing him the gold.

  
After about an hour of practice, someone’s phone begins to ring. No one reaches for it until it has gone to voicemail once and starts ringing again. Victor who is closest to the side skates over and picks up Yuri’s blue poodle phone case.

  
“Who is it?” Yuri calls out from across the rink.

  
“Someone named Nicholas James. Do you want me to-“ When Yuri heard ‘Nicholas’ he skated over to Victor and grabbed the phone out of his hand.

  
“Moshi Moshi, Nic! You better be calling because you’re in St. Petersburg and you're dying to see me,” Yuri has the most strained smile Victor has ever seen him wear.

  
All Victor can make out on the other end of the phone before Yuri has on his skate guards and is walking off to the side is, “Unfortunately not, do you remember Sarah and Noah Miller from your time here in Detroit?”

  
“Of course.” Victor cannot hear the rest of the conversation since Yuri has walked out of earshot.

  
Suddenly Yurio and Mila are standing right next to him, “Victor have you seen this?” Yurio is shoving his phone in Victor’s face before he gets a chance to answer.  
It is showing a news headline saying, “Tragic plane crash results in the death of the American Figure Skating team” Victor grabs the phone to read more. The American Figure Skating team was heading home after the Grand Prix Final and they do not know much more yet, other than the plane crashed in the middle of nowhere just outside of Washington DC. As far as they can tell there have been no survivors found. Leo de la Iglesia and his coach were saved as they were on a different flight after staying an extra day in Italy.

  
“The ISU has already announced that they are canceling the rest of the competition this season! That blows!” Yurio exclaims before he grabs his phone back from Victor.

  
“Well, that makes sense, they did the same thing when this happened back in ‘61,” Mila says with a shrug, “It’s so sad though so many people gone! I can’t believe I will never see or skate against Ashely ever again” Victor puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  
“Thanks again for calling me, Nic. I will have to talk that over with my husband before giving you a definite answer. I'll call you back later today. Ok. Yea I will let you know when my flight lands. Alright. Good-bye.” Yuri hangs up the phone as he is walking back over to the group with his hand running through his hair.

  
“What did Nicholas say, love?”

  
“I assume you guys have already heard about the plane crash?” Yuri barely looks at them as he leans down to untie his skates. They nod their heads at him. “Well, some good friends of mine from Detroit died in the crash.” Yuri looks up at Victor, “I am going to America to help with things, and there is something I need to talk to you about alone.”

  
Victor just nods at Yuri walking over and taking his skates off as well. They say their good-byes to Yurio and Mila before walking home. Victor can tell that there is something more than just the plane crash bothering Yuri. They do not say anything to each other until they are in their apartment and settled on the couch.

  
“What did you want to talk to me about?” Victor starts since all Yuri is doing is staring down at his clasped hands.

  
When he still doesn’t respond Victor puts a light hand on Yuri’s shoulder, “Yuri?” Yuri looks up at Victor with tears in his eyes before falling into Victor’s shoulder and sobbing.

  
“They’re still so young Victor! What are we going to do? Can we take them? But we live in RUSSIA!” Victor is rubbing his back and holding him as he continues to say things that don’t make sense.

  
“Liybimaya, slow down, what is going on? Breath for me, love.”

  
Yuri takes several deep breaths before starting at the beginning. “When I was in Detroit there was this skating couple who used to be popular in pair skating. They ended up getting married and having kids.”

  
“Cute!”

  
Yuri nods, “Yes, their kids were really cute too. Last I saw them 5 years ago, Emily was 8, and Josh was only 5. They were really cute kids. Naturally, Sarah and Noah already had them learning how to ice skate, so they would come with their parents to the rink, and Phichit and I would play with them when we were not practicing our programs. It was really cute.

  
“I especially bonded with Emily. She reminded me a lot of myself when I was younger. Anxiety and all. It became a running joke that if anything happened to them I would be the one who would take care of them because I understood Anxiety. What I didn’t realize at the time though was that it wasn’t just a joke. Sarah and Noah actually named me responsible for the kids if something ever happened to them.” Yuri stopped here and started crying even harder. “I don’t know what to do, Vitya.”

  
It took Victor a few minutes to realize what Yuri meant, “Sarah and Noah died in the plane crash.” It wasn’t a question, rather a statement of fact.

  
Yuri nodded his head against Victor’s chest. “Yea, Emily and Josh stay home during competitions now that Emily is old enough to take care of them for a couple of days. Plus, they have always been close with the other skaters at the rink. So, those who were not competing typically check in on them and use Emily as an excuse to break their diet and eat some cookies.” Yuri chuckles sadly at the memory.

  
Yuri sits up and wipes the tears out of his eyes, “Victor, I am legally in charge of these kids. I don’t know what to do. I know we haven’t talked about kids in a while, but we basically have to adopt them or let them go into the foster system where they could potentially be separated. I don’t want to do that to them. Victor are you ok?”

  
Because Yuri was crying in Victor’s chest, he didn’t realize how still Victor had gone after his last interjection. Yuri definitely didn’t realize how pale Victor had gone.

  
Yuri started talking again, “Victor, I know we were still waiting on adopting any more pets and we definitely haven’t talked about kids since before we got married, but I really don’t want these kids to end up in the hands of strangers. I know that I am not always the best husband, and I might really suck as a dad. But Sarah and Noah trusted me with their kids. I don’t want to be responsible if they get placed in a bad foster home or anything. Before you say no, at least come to America with me to meet them.”

  
Slowly Victor processed what was going on while Yuri was speaking. Slowly the color came back to his face, and he started to don the heart-shaped smile that Yuri loves so much, “Yuri, why would you think I would say no? I was just surprised this was suddenly happening to us. Once I entered a relationship with a man I didn't think surprise pregnancies would be a thing," Victor winked at Yuri. "You’re gonna be an amazing dad. Of course, we won't let anything bad happen to them. I'd sign the papers right now if I could”

  
“Really?”

  
“Yea, we better buy some plane tickets then, and you need to call Nicholas.”

  
“I love you so much!” Yuri throws his arms around Victor’s neck. Victor squeezed Yuri back just as hard.

  
“I love you too, moye liybimaya”


	2. i dont wanna break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Yuri arrive in Detroit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, Victor!! I hope you guys have enjoyed whatever holiday that you celebrate during this winter season even if it just is Victor's birthday. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Chapter title named after "i don't wanna break" by Christina Perri

Yuri barely turned on his phone in the Frankfurt, Germany airport before it started exploding with notifications, mainly from Phichet.

PC: HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS????

PC: SARAH AND NOAH

PC: Poor Emily and Josh

PC: WAIT

PC: DOES THIS MEAN

PC: WHAT I THINK

PC: IT MEANS?

PC: YURI

PC: YUUUURIIIIIII!!!!

PC: YOU BETTER BE DEAD

Yuri calls Phichet before he has a chance to get more upset by Yuri not responding.

“YURI YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR NOT RESPONDING TO ME BEFORE NOW!”

“Well, Victor and I were-“

“You better not have ignored me for sex!” Yuri can feel the blush go all the way to his toes.

“PHICHET! No! We were on a flight. We are at a layover in Germany before we board another flight to Detroit. Nic called me as soon as he heard about the crash.”

“So, what is going to happen with Emily and Josh? I don’t remember Sarah and Noah talking about other family.” Phichet has finally calmed down and for that Yuri is extremely grateful.

“Actually, um, about that. Apparently, Sarah and Noah didn’t catch on that we were all joking about me being their guardian. Then again, I don’t think that Sarah and Noah expected this to happen. I definitely didn’t WANT to become a parent this way.”

“Wait, Yuri! Are you and Victor going to try to adopt them?” Phichet sounds as shocked as Yuri felt a few hours ago when he first heard the news.

“Well, we will have to see if that’s even what Emily and Josh want or even an option since we will have to take them back to St. Petersburg with us, but yea, that’s what we would like to do. So, are you coming out at all?” Yuri is just blindly being pulled along by Victor at this point. They stop at a small shop on their way to their next gate where Victor indicates that he is going to get them food. Yuri smiles and nods at him.

“I wish, but I need to save up money. Competitions are not cheap you know. I’m sad that it took a plane crash to postpone the competitions this year, but since I have been struggling to medal, I can’t really afford to travel right now. I’m hoping to see Emily and Josh next time we get together though. I have been messaging Emily on Instagram all morning. I don’t think she knows yet about what happened. That can’t be a fun conversation. I wonder if Nic is going to be the one to tell them.” Yuri suddenly realized that Phichet must be at his rink in Bangkok since he can hear skates on Ice.

Victor walks back up to Yuri with two coffees and some sandwiches, and whispers to Yuri, “Our next flight leaves soon.”

Yuri nods at Victor. “Yea, a part of me is scared that Victor and I will have to tell them. Well, I’ve got to go, we are boarding our next flight soon. See Ya!”

“Bye Yuri!”

Yuri happily accepts the coffee from Victor as he hangs up the phone, and they walk together to their gate to eat their sandwiches.

“Thank you, Victor, for everything.”

Victor glances at Yuri who hasn’t looked up from his sandwich. Victor gives Yuri a quick kiss on the forehead. “Anything for you, my love”

“I was so scared that you wanted nothing to do with these kids. Even though you are one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I just was scared it would be too much to ask of you.” Yuri blushes as he shares the inner workings of his brain. In the past four years of being together, Yuri has learned how to be more open with his thoughts when it comes to Victor. That doesn’t mean he is perfect at it, but he has gotten better at it, and Victor has gotten better at responding to Yuri’s anxious thoughts.

“Thank you for telling me that, Yuri. What do you mean I’m ONE of the kindest people you know? Who could beat me? The fabulous Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov!” Victor knows he’s being ridiculous. However, what is more, important right now is keeping Yuri from getting too down on himself. The giggle that comes from Yuri helps Victor to relax a little. He could tell that Yuri was starting to drown in his own thoughts. This would be completely warranted given the situation of suddenly facing parenthood after the death of a friend.

“Okaasan, of course!” The crinkle around his eyes doesn’t last long, nor the smile.

“Oh well, I guess that is ok then. How are you holding up, liybimaya?” Victor holds a hand out for Yuri’s trash before putting an arm around the younger man and allowing him to fold into Victor.

“As well as to be expected. I think it fully hasn’t hit me that Sarah and Noah won’t be at the rink when we get to Detroit. I’m sorry that the first time we go to Detroit together is under these circumstances.”

Victor kisses the top of Yuri’s head and gives his shoulder a good squeeze. “I remember when my dad died. It took me a while to stop waiting for him to come home after work. Everyone grieves differently. I’ll be here however you want me.”

Yuri nods his head against Victor’s shoulder, “Just hold me for right now.”

“That I can do”

~~

When their flight lands in Detroit, Nicholas is waiting for them in the car loading area.

“Hey, Yuri! Long time no see!” Nicholas gives Yuri a firm handshake while glancing over his shoulder towards the Russian man watching them closely.

“I’m sorry that it is under these circumstances that we got together again. Nicholas, this is my husband, Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov. Victor, this is Nic, he is Sarah and Noah’s lawyer and a good friend.” Yuri puts on a smile for the introductions.

“It's good to finally meet you in person Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov, I have heard lots about you.”

Victor gives Nic his award-winning smile while shaking hands, “All good things I hope!” After the formalities are over, Nic helps them get their luggage into the trunk of his car and they all pile in before Nic pulls out of the airport.

“So, what is the plan, Nic?” Yuri asks twisting the rings on his right hand and looking out the passenger window at that familiar landscape. Yuri is glad that his friends stayed in Detroit. It would have been worse on his anxiety if he had to learn the layout of a whole new city on top of everything else going on.

“I went over and talked to Emily and Josh this morning; they are expecting to see you guys. Although, one of the guys from the rink texted me that per Emily’s request he picked them up –“

“Emily wanted to skate, didn’t she? Has she started competing yet?” Yuri watches Victor in the back seat from the side mirror. Victor is unusually quiet, although it is rare at this point that they are with someone that Yuri knows, and Victor doesn’t.

“This was going to be her debut season.” Yuri glances over at Nic to see him white-knuckling the stirring wheel. “It’s not fair. None of it makes sense. What did Sarah and Noah, or even Emily and Josh ever do to deserve this?”

“Death is never fair. Emily and Josh should still have their parents, losing a parent is never easy especially when you are still a kid.” Victor finally speaks up from the backseat, and Yuri wishes he could hug him. Victor’s dad died when he was young. A car crash they said. Victor turned heavily to skating to cope with the loss. It was shortly after that Victor started training under Yakov.

“Nic, what process do we need to go through to be full guardians of Emily and Josh?” Yuri questions the lawyer.

“So, I have already submitted a petition to the court on your behalf as we discussed the other night. The court will review your background, and the facts of the case before granting that to you. You both will have to submit to drug tests and background checks. It should be an open and shut case. Done in about two weeks. We are going to head over to the clinic first where you guys will do those tests and checks before we head over to the rink to pick up Emily and Josh. If that works for you guys?” Yuri doesn't really understand what a lot of Nic said meant but he just nods his head.

What if the courts find two gay men irresponsible for these kids? What if they don’t think figure skating is a good enough profession to be able to take care of the kids? What if someone else comes up and says that for whatever reason Yuri and Victor shouldn’t care for Emily and Josh? Sure, if they do end up having family then they should have them, but Yuri was already accepting his role as a parent and would be devastated to lose the kids. What if they can’t take them back to Russia? What if Emily and Josh don’t want to go to Russia? What if Emily and Josh don’t want Yuri and Victor to adopt them?

“Yes, that works for us.” Victor’s strong accent travels up from the backseat and helps to calm Yuri’s anxious thinking.

After the clinic, it is a short drive to the familiar rink that Yuri called home not five years ago. It was weird for Yuri to be back with his husband, Victor Nikiforov. The smell of rental skates and sweaty bodies hit them like a brick as they enter the building. Yuri followed the familiar path past the rental skates and down the hall to the ice rink that was typically reserved for competitive skaters. There is another rink at the front of the building that the public uses, but the one in the back gave more room to the competitive skates to practice their programs and jumps since not as many people used it.

Yuri passes by poster after poster on the wall of all the many competitive skaters that have trained at the rink. Close to the doors of the competitive rink are the posters of Phichet and Yuri from five years ago when they trained here. Yuri sees Victor stop and looks at their posters.

“This was the season before I became your coach, right?” Victor touches his chin in a way that makes Yuri forget why they are at the rink in the first place.

“Yea, this is where Phichet and I trained when we were in college. They would update the posters each season that we were here. Apparently, they have not updated them since,” Yuri gives a soft chuckle before pulling on Victor, and they walk into the rink together.

The rink is emptier than it normally is on a Monday morning. Yuri spots a blond-haired boy leaning against the boards watching an older girl with light brown hair practice a step sequence. She is one of the few people on the ice.

Yuri walks up and ruffles the boy’s hair. Josh looks up at Yuri and smiles before giving him a big hug. “Yuri! I watched you skate the other day! You were so amazing! Can you teach me how to skate like that?”

Yuri chuckles, “maybe later when you can safely land some jumps, huh?” Yuri is part of a group chat that was put together when he lived in Detroit that had Sarah Noah, Phichet, and their other rink mates. Sarah and Noah would frequently send through videos of Emily and Josh to show off their children to those who had moved away. Yuri always enjoyed watching those videos. Josh has developed good balance and responds to music well on the ice, but he hasn’t been able to consistently land any jumps, but he has a lot of time to practice. That is if he wants to continue to skate like his parents and older sister. Speaking of Emily has just finished her step sequence. Yuri smiles at the young skater, “Hey, Emily! Your free leg is looking sloppy and that looks even choppier than the video you sent me last week!”

“YURI!” Emily finally notices Yuri and Josh standing off to the side of the rink and rushes over. She doesn’t even take the time to put on her skate guards before jumping into Yuri’s hug.

“I’ve missed you, kiddo.” Yuri rubs her back during their hug. He knows that, like Victor, she responds best to physical affection, especially when she is upset.  
She pulls out of the hug and looks up at Yuri with tears in her eyes, “Nic says that you’re gonna take care of us now.”

“Only if you guys want us to.” Emily glances behind Yuri as if just realizing that Yuri did not come alone to the rink. Her face heats up to the shade of a ripe tomato. She gives me a look that says, ‘how could you do this to me’, then whispers, “I’m a sweaty mess! This cannot be Victor Nikiforov’s first impression of me! He’s gonna think I’m a slob!”

Yuri whispers back, “He’s not going to think you’re a slob, trust me he looks worse than you do right now after practice.”

A dramatic gasp comes from behind them, “Yuri! How dare you? I always look amazing!” Yuri only laughs at his ridiculous husband.

“Well, if you want me to take care of you, Emily, Victor and I are a package deal, so he will have plenty of time to see that you are not just a sweaty post-practice mess. Not that you are, you’re still beautiful.” Yuri continues to whisper to Emily. She looks at Yuri like she is seriously considering entering foster care to avoid Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov after he has seen her like this. “Ok, Emily, why don’t we head back to your place so you can shower. We’ll bake cookies and you can woo Victor with your baking skills.”

She nods solemnly like this is the worst day of her life, which it probably is, but her parents’ death luckily isn’t what is causing the mortification currently.  
Victor smiles down at Josh who apparently has already introduced himself to Victor and is beginning to talk his ear off about all of the videos that he has watched of Victor while walking with him out toward the car after Nic. “Hey, Victor! Do you think you can watch me skate sometimes? My dad was helping me to learn the lux, or was it the loop? I don’t remember, I can’t ever remember the difference between them.”  
“It can be hard because they both start with L”  
“Exactly!”  
Yuri and Emily fall in step next to each other as they head to the car, and she doesn’t leave his side until Nic drops them off at the house with a wave saying he will call Yuri when he has an update with the case.

~~

Emily and Yuri had long since finished making cookies that Victor ate more of than he cares to share, and now there is loud music playing from an Alexa speaker to which Yuri, Josh, and Emily are dancing to. Victor was dancing too but he needed a break.

The song [Party Like a Russian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2XiGxbBkf8&t=1s) comes on. Victor had never heard it before, but Yuri obviously had. As soon as the sound of the first drum rings through the room it's as if they had rehearsed the dance. Yuri and Emily started doing the exact same moves at the same time in perfect sync with the song. This obviously was not the first time they had danced to this song together.

Victor begins to wonder if he needs to really teach these people what it means to "party like a Russian" when Josh comes over and stands with Victor in the kitchen to watch Emily and Yuri dance. “Everyone knows when Emily is having a bad day because she will sit and listen to this song on repeat for hours.”

Victor glances at Josh, “How come?”

Josh just shrugs, “Don't know. It's weird to think that I will never see them again." Victor doesn't need to ask to know that Josh is now talking about his parents. Josh hasn't said much about them yet today, focusing more on topics such as skating, cookies, or dancing. "I won’t have the opportunity to see my dad's excited face when I land a jump. He was always my biggest supporter.”

“I’m sorry this happened to you.” Victor looks over at Josh and doesn’t quite know what to do. He doesn’t know if he should keep his distance or hug the young boy. Victor was younger than Josh when he lost his dad and Victor remembers crying for hours. He is amazed that both kids haven’t just been sitting around crying all day.

Josh sighs, “It’s not like it’s your fault. I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem real. Like I just keep thinking that any minute now they will walk through the front door and show us the things they bought for us in Italy and tell us all about their trip.”

“Yea that is one of the hardest parts about losing someone. You keep expecting to see them everywhere you go even though you know they won’t be there.” Victor sees a tear leave Josh’s eyes. “Josh, it's ok to cry. You don’t have to hold in for us. We won’t think any less of you for crying.” Josh nods his head and turns to hug Victor letting out the sobs that he had obviously been holding in all day. Victor holds on tightly to Josh, rubbing his back. Victor glances up to see Yuri watching them and smiling while still dancing with Emily.

Later that night Victor passes Emily's room as he is heading to the guest room where Yuri and he will be staying. He hears sobs coming from the crack in the door. From the hall, he can see Emily crying in her bed with Yuri holding on to her. He can hear Yuri whispering things to her but can’t quite make out what exactly Yuri is saying. Victor is glad that they can be here for these kids. He wouldn’t want them to have to go through this by themselves. He even feels bad that they could not have been with them last night and that the kids had to face their first night without their parents alone. While Victor knows that he and Yuri will never be able to replace Sarah and Noah, He just hopes that Emily and Josh are willing to let Victor and Yuri be a part of their family. Then maybe one day Emily and Josh will be able to think about their parents without crying.


End file.
